Ecologically responsible policies are concerned only in part with pollution and resource depletion. There are deeper concerns which touch upon principles of diversity, complexity, autonomy, decentralization, symbiosis, egalitarianism, and classlessness.

This text demonstrates how tightly humans are connected with the fabric of life and suggests that it is imperative to organize the world according to a different set of values and beliefs, not only for the well-being of human organizations, but for the survival of humanity as a whole.

This text offers different ways for regarding human interactions with other species, from appealing ones like wolves to less popular ones like snail darters. Society struggles to decide what parts of nature matter and why. Ultimately, it argues, nature is a social product: what shall we make of it?